Body cams prove beneficial to campus police, students alike

Dayton, Ohio campus police have been sporting the small cameras on their uniforms for a year

By Amy Canfield
Security Director News

DAYTON, Ohio — Body-worn digital cameras at the University of Dayton have made interactions between campus police officers and students more positive and peaceful, says Randall Groesbeck, director of administration and security for the Department of Public Safety there.

More than 20 patrolmen on campus have been wearing VIEVU’s wireless video cameras on their vests for about a year now. Previously, they had no cameras on the beat, Groesbeck, who is also a major in the campus police department, told Security Director News.

“It provides a means for us to record activity, including audio, at the scene that we didn’t have before. When an officer turns on the camera, individuals know that, too. I think it changes the way people behave when talking with an officer. And, officers are acutely aware that their behavior is being recorded,” Groesbeck said. “Having that visual and audio proof saved a number of officers from disciplinary action, or at least an investigation, because there was nothing that they did wrong,” he said.